Warbird Information Exchange

If you followed my "basement find" thread then you know that yesterday I was digging through my folks basement. While rummaging I found box of my old pictures. Some I had been looking for years and they were in
my parents house, go figure.

In the box was a stack of pictures of the aircraft. Lockheed T-33A-5-LO
Ser. No. 58-0510



510 was, if you will, my first. She was the first derelict warbird aircraft that I had come across that I thought I could do something to help save her.



I was 20 years old. Barely even indoctrinated in the USAF Reserves and going to college. I was stationed up in Youngstown OH, at YARB located at the Warren Regional Airport south of Cleveland. I was attached to the 910th Air Lift Wing with the 76th Aerial Port Squadron. Working on, at the time, new "H" model C-130's.



I loved it. Back then I thought the Hercules was the "Bee's Knees" and still do, to this day. Reserve duty, as I'm sure you can imagine, consisted of drilling one weekend a month and 2 weeks a year. That was the minimum requirement but we did a lot more then that when it came to getting ready for our Operational Readiness Inspections.



While training every month to do my war time job. I had become more and more aware of a eye catching aircraft off in the distance at the end of the ramp. It had been there since before I checked aboard. I wasn't sure what it was at the time from my vantage point. It didn't look old enough to be a World War 2 aircraft (i.e. no propeller) but it also didn't look like it represented the latest and greatest in aircraft design either.



Over the weekend, after working hours I would drive down the airfield perimeter road to get a closer look, but it didn't help to figure what type of aircraft it was. Because it was still too far off and all I could see was it's SIX. So after several months of drilling the temptation and curiosity was too much to withstand and I took a walk on my lunch break with camera in hand.



It was a little bit of a hike from our squadron building, maybe a 1/3 of a mile. It felt a little longer due to the cold and wind. But as I got closure the aircraft became more and more discerable. And before I knew it I was standing in front of a T-33 Shooting Star and man was she pretty(atleast to me). Sure she was a little rough around the edges with missing pieces and patch panels all over her, but her curves were sexy and if you squinted just a little bit she looked like a polished thoroughbred. Now usually walking across a Air Force flightline and climbimg all over an aircraft is not recommended and generally will attract the attention of the base cops. And this was no exception.



I saw them coming for me, off in the distance and thought to myself, "Well self, this can't be good". I had heard horror stories about how these DOD cops loved to drop people to the ground for the slightest infractions on the flightline (never cross the RED line). So with my uniform blaintly obvious and my Line badge proudly displayed on my chest I calmly waited for the cushmans to arrive. Luckily these guy had had their coffee and donuts today and were in a good mood when I explained myself for being out there. Which was fine with me. I really had no desire to be laying on my belly eating snow without the use of my hands. I finish taking my pictures and these chaps were even nice enough to give me a ride back to the squadron. They totally had a bad rap and suffered from a "SandLot" Hercules stigma.



After visiting with 510 I decided I wanted to do something to help save her from neglect and a uncertain furture since no one in Youngstown was laying claim to her. The 910th or the airport. At the time while going to college I worked part-time at the then USAF Museum at the IMAX theatre. I talked with a Col. Johnson(ret.) who worked there and told him about the aircraft. Which in turn he told me he would look into it. A week or so went by without hearing anything until one day Col. Johnson stopped by and handed me a envelope with a letter addressed to me from the director of the museum. It went on to give me some information about the aircraft and to thank me for bringing this to their attention. And at that point it said that museum would go collect the T-33. Man I felt good. What organisation would be better suited to take care of 510, I thought to myself. A month or so later on my next trip up to Y-town I noticed that 510 was gone ........and that was the last I heard of her. I wasn't sure where she went to but I figured it had to be better than the life she was leading.

That was back in the first part of 1996. My life had moved on. I went from USAF reserves to U.S. Navy active duty for the next 8 years. 5 of which were spent with the Seal Teams. But ever since my time in Youngstown it had always lingered in the back of my mind what had become of 510. I had forgotten her serial no. and misplaced her pictures. So I had no way to track her down.......until yesterday.

Fast forward to 10 years later. Digging through my parents basement I stumble across a box of my pictures and loe and behold pictures of 58-0510. I must have wasted 30 minutes looking through them. Talk about a lot of memories. I couldn't wait to get home and search the databases for 510 to see which museum had her on display or which private owner had her up and flying again. I first checked WRG and got nothing. Her sister ship 58-0509 is listed and doing fine still scaling the skies, but no 510. So I thought there is more than one way to skin a cat and checked Joe Baughers lists with still no mention of 510. After that I went for broke and googled "58-0510" and to my surprise I got 1 result returned. I looked at the address and airliners.net and for whatever reason thought that was a good sign that she was still around. Until I clicked the Link.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1109710/M/

I can't convey all the emotions I'm feeliing right now, but betrayal and anger are tipping the scales. I can believe this happened. I didn't ask the museum to dispose of the aircraft I asked them to save her. I'm going to write a letter to the museum here in the next couple of days and see what their there response is. And basically convey how utterly sickened I am by this whole situation. Sorry to vent like this but I feel like one of the big players in the field is skipping out on practice and causing the whole team to suffer. Take care all and enjoy the pictures

Shay
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Semper Fortis

There is some concern the F-4's at Wright Pat that recently came off the poles to be replaced by an F-15 and 16 are headed to the range as well .. One of them being a Mig Killer ...

RJ

That's a cry'n shame if that's true.

Those birds are way too pretty to use as targets





Shay
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Semper Fortis

No good deed goes un-punished

At least you gave it qa good try and got some good pictures of it when it was intact. Unfortunately you can't save them all. Reference my post several months ago about EC-130E 62-1818 (an Eagle Claw veteran aircraft and some of the hostile responses I received about my efforts to save that aircraft from the boneyard)...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Seeing the Walter Soplata thread got me thinking. I read on here a little while back that Walter would display some of his artifacts and aircraft at the Youngstown-Warren Regional airport. And since no one at the airfield was claiming ownership, I had a thought.

Perhaps the T-33 belonged to Mr Soplata?

It kinda makes since and 510 has the look of a Soplata bird. One of his better ones if indeed 510 once belonged to him. I really need to find the paper work the museum gave me concerning this T-bird.

What do you guys think?

Shay
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Semper Fortis

I hope those Rhino's end up in a deserved place .. Not on the range block ...

WOW

I just did some digging and discovered some interesting information about 58-0510.

This is from 510's Crew Chief, MSgt. R.L. Sisco, 49th FIS 82-87 regarding a skin of 58-0510 that he made for a flight simulator:






Makes me wonder if there still a chance to save what's left of her.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

well shay, your heart was in the right place!!! leave it to the beaurocrats to f it up!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Judging by the gashes in the airframe, I would surmise the Youngstown C-130 unit used it as a combat repair trainer for the maintenance guys...sort of an undignifiied mission for the classic old bird...too bad. Maybe the Canadian gov't will auction off the last of their T-33s and a few more flyers can get into circulation.

Hmmm,

A similar fate of a friends T-Bird a few years ago.

He owned it for 15 or more years, flew it to many airshows in a couple of paint schemes over those years.
It sat for a while looking for a buyer, it had some issues recently repaired and was airworthy.A new owner came to pick it up.
On the way home a problem arose and fuel was transferred incorrectly into the belly and out of the drain mast.
He ran it out of gas and dead sticked the thing into a runway that was way too short.
The wings were torn off after the airplane departed the runway and the airplane was destroyed.

It didnt look like it was a good thing to be just sitting there at an airport.
Eventually it was destroyed by its use.

Great attempt! But not everybody gets it.

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"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

A few Years ago when I was Ferrying a 182 to get painted, i saw the tail of this airplane. It is currently (as of a few years Ago) located at the airport in Cadiz, Ohio On the north side of the field. As we had to return in a hurry I did not get to close to look at it.

Shay if that cockpit is still around could you not try and save it as a cockpit project?

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Cheers,
Peter

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Different T-33. The plane at Harrison County Airport was on display in a park in Marietta, Ohio before it was recovered for restoration in the early 2000s. It is s/n 52-09785.

Jim

Actually I think the whole aircraft is there just dismantled. I rather try and save the whole aircraft if at all possible.

That picture was taken back this past July. I contacted the Photographer of it yesterday. He was less than interested in the idea of saving 510 from certain distruction. His opinion is that 510 is serving in a better role as a target than to be preserved. And that is better to use these aircraft rather than those at AMARC. Ineveitalbly he wrote to the extent "you can't save them all.

All I asked him for was a little information on 510's overall condition since he saw her 2 months ago and maybe his point of contact up at Grayling range. His response was "I do not want you using my picture for your cause"

In the end that's fine. He has the right do and say what he wants. I just don't see where he's coming from.

Shay
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Semper Fortis